Vetus Exhaust for Tight Engine Bay

[vet222]

Hello cruiser world,

Bought a 1984 33' Windspeed cat 1 year ago. It'd had a double donk upgrade (from a single engine centre pod mount) in 2007 with a couple of Volvo Penta D-120's with sail drives. Nice and simple and run well and only 100hrs each. However, the exhaust system is below par and dodgily installed. The exhaust elbows are greater than 15cm above waterline and waterlocks are just on WL but in a very tight space....... Analysing the setup it dawned on me that the waterlocks have been ignorantly installed backwards for reasons I suspect relate to being the only way to fit them in with the vertical "inlet" conveniently located to be used as the outlet from the lock......perhaps lucky so far not to have a flooded motor.
Secondly, the exhaust elbow takes 45mm ID wet exhaust hose to waterlock inlet.... Fine!.....but the waterlock outlet has had 50mm installed all the way to side of hulls including a gooseneck arrangement (the waterlocks are these moulded polypropylene types with 40,45,50mm steps on the inlet/outlets)



So, needing to rectify this, the most apt waterlock for cramped quarters that I could find is the Vetus NLP canister style with split rotatable canister and rotating inlet/outlets.....the NLP 45 would do the job except the inlet/outlets are not stepped.

http://www.vetus-shop.com/images/NLP.png

http://www.vetus-shop.com/vetus-nlp-...72_73_238.html

Questions:
1. given that this style of waterlock is stepping away from the KISS system with more O rings and joints, has the real world actually seen or heard of any failures (I don't want to have a flooded engine bay)
2. Does anybody know whether the inlet/outlet pipes can be changed eg swap a 45mm to a 50mm......... This would save me from having to rip out all the 50mm stuff from waterlock to gooseneck to hull. I know an email to the vetus company would best answer this one but I'm on the forum now so thought I'd just ask

Cheers

Steve of Perth Australia

[vet222]

Replying to my own thread question 2 in case anybody in future wants to know, the Vetus NLP style exhaust waterlock inlet outlets are interchangeable between the 40, 45 & 50mm by purchasing appropriate nozzle component according to Vetus wholesaler in Oz.

Would still like to hear from anybody having had any Vetus waterlock failures...... Havent had a reply yet so maybe there haven't been any problems with them..... A good sign maybe!

[hpeer]

Not a report of a failure but we did install one of these last year for similar reasons. The previous exhaust installation was insane and causing problems. There were space issues. So far it is working fine.

[Ziggy]

The only issue I'm aware of is that the plastic will melt if your raw water flow is interrupted for some reason. I suggest installing a water flow sensor and/or exhaust temperature sensor. You can get the latter from vetus or both from borelmfg.com

[Chief Engineer]

I have replace way too many Vetus Waterlocks that have melted with a relatively short loss of waterflow........poor design

[boatman61]

I dumped my Vetus when it blew and I could not get a replacement in Villamoura back in the '90's.... fitted new hose with a loop.... worked a treat for the next 3yrs till I sold the boat...

[jenny2]

I don't like vetus plastic airlocks or waterlifts seen to many melted they just can't take the heat.

[JiffyLube]

I have a Vernalift and it's worked just fine.

[hpeer]

Originally Posted by boatman61

I dumped my Vetus when it blew and I could not get a replacement in Villamoura back in the '90's.... fitted new hose with a loop.... worked a treat for the next 3yrs till I sold the boat...

So you are saying that you just removed the water lock muffler and replaced it with a loop of hose? A 180 bend or go all the way around in a 360?

I thought of that myself but didn't have the confidence, and was not sufficiently desperate to try it.

How do the Vetus exhaust temp alarms fit? The Vetus site is pretty darn vague.

My muffler installation is very, very tight. We had to hack out and modify a portion of the aft cabin bulkhead to get the muffler in. And make an exhaust riser. Still preferable to the lousy installation when we bought the boat. Something niter surveyor picked up on BTW.

[boatman61]

Originally Posted by hpeer

So you are saying that you just removed the water lock muffler and replaced it with a loop of hose? A 180 bend or go all the way around in a 360?

I thought of that myself but didn't have the confidence, and was not sufficiently desperate to try it.

All the way round in a 360..... did an emergency fix while at sea but it was a straight line...
the full loop I fitted later was to stop any backflow in big following sea's...
Thought about it a while first... but could see no flaw in my logic as long as I kept 50% of the loop above the water line....
The boat was a mono... Westerly Longbow....

[vet222]

Thanks for the useful replies.
Am certainly having reservations about the plastic Vetus but is no worse than what is currently installed only would fit into the tight nook. I will investigate the Vernalift for size.... I have seen already they are manufactured in a variety of tubing sizes also to cater for different inlet and outlet diameters.
So I suppose Fibreglass would be significantly more heat tolerant to a sudden water injection failure perhaps?

Secondly, I am also curious to the simple looping of exhaust hose concept....... If it works, why bother with a dedicated waterlock when a loop (or two) of exhaust hose might retain sufficient water to have a waterlock effect anyways.

[Boracay]

When I brought Boracay she had a waterlift muffler made from 1/4" mild steel. It had to go on the repower as the John Deere 4045D needs a 4" exhaust.

But it could not be that difficult to have a muffler made up. I'd go with stainless rather than mild steel, but otherwise it would have to be way safer in a tight space (maybe add a little extra insulation).

[cat man do]

Originally Posted by Boracay

When I brought Boracay she had a waterlift muffler made from 1/4" mild steel. It had to go on the repower as the John Deere 4045D needs a 4" exhaust.

But it could not be that difficult to have a muffler made up. I'd go with stainless rather than mild steel, but otherwise it would have to be way safer in a tight space (maybe add a little extra insulation).

I made mine from Vinylester using a 20 litre bucket as the former
It was pretty easy
I dont see why it wont work, measurements are pretty much the same as what the commercial vendors versions are

[vet222]

Thanks Borocay.

I had a discussion with an old salt next to us in marina about stainless and exhausts...... He'd seen I had some stainless connectors joining straight exhaust hose to moulded curved hose. His 10cents worth was that stainless has a habit of corroding in salt water when the temperature gets above 70C so had recommended I change out the straights coupled to the bends (via stainless tube) and replace the entire section with a continuous length flexible exhaust hose to go around the bends or get Fibreglass connectors.
He revealed this influenced his decision with choosing waterlocks to select Fibreglass (over stainless) ......made them himself......maybe he'd make mine : )
His Fusion was finished being built 5 mths ago and since then, his 316 stainless exhaust hull fittings are already showing signs of corrosion on the inside of the tubing where the temp is going to be a lot lower than in a waterlock.

[Blue Stocking]

Originally Posted by cat man do

I made mine from Vinylester using a 20 litre bucket as the former
It was pretty easy
I dont see why it wont work, measurements are pretty much the same as what the commercial vendors versions are

Did mine the same way. Extruded glassfibre pipe from the offcuts of a commercial R.O plant.